Merry Christmas

We are a week into winter break and the kids have been busy filling their days with all sorts of activities. Korinne decided to do a little cooking on Monday and even dressed the part.  By the time I realized what what going on she already had some cookies baking in the oven.  Korinne has always been a "ask for forgiveness instead of permission" kind of girl and when she sets her mind to something it's best to just get out of the way.

Jameson was a very willing helper and happily tasted everything before it went into the oven.

It's always nice when all 4 of your children spontaneously go out and play in the snow together.

The fruit of their labor.  

Jameson named the snowman "Toothy".

Since we got a couple of  new inches each day last week the big snow pile in the cul-de-sac was finally big enough for making caves.  Once again Britton led all 4 kids in the building of tunnels through the snow.

Britton and I have a little side job cleaning Adam's office once a week.  Here is Britton in action.

Before we new it it was Christmas Eve and Grandma and Grandpa were busy making our traditional Reuben sandwiches.

All of the kids really like Reubens now.  It usually takes a few years to develop a taste for them, but once you turn the corner there is no going back.  Unfortunately its getting harder and harder to find corn beef this time of year.  Apparently we are the only ones on the planet who have such a tradition on Christmas Eve.

Pure deliciousness.

Our one attempt at a family Christmas picture.  It had to be quick, Jameson wasn't in the mood for photos. . .except for when he had a present in hand.

Surprise! Pajamas.  

Grandma and Grandpa

We watched the church video of the nativity and then watched other Christmas music videos.

The next morning the kids were up at about 6:40 and waited a few minutes for Grandma and Grandpa to come back over.

Then it was time to open gifts from Santa.

Jmo was happy to get some Thomas the Train extension tracks, play dough, some books and bubble bath.

Britton got a phone.  He was the last hold out from his age group.

Jenna and Korinne were thrilled to get Kindles.

Christmas morning breakfast ring. Thanks to Grandma for making it and putting it in the oven before she left to go and watch Will and June open their presents.  My brother and his family arrived late Christmas Eve.

My family has a special place in their hearts for Egg Nog.  I think the stuff is Nasty (with a capitol N) but am outvoted on this 5 to 1. To them egg nog is the biggest treat ever and they are giddy just thinking about it.

One of our funny traditions is that Adam always makes some fancy Christmas jello every year for our Christmas dinner. He usually tries a different recipe each year and this year he decided to make the jello that has several layers.

After taking this picture of him adding a layer of red jello to the green layers I made a comment about how we really shouldn't be eating anything that looks like play dough,  Real food or not it was delicious.

Jameson loved having his cousins Will and June around on Christmas Day.

We gathered at Grandma's house for a big turkey dinner.

So yummy!  Adam even made his rolls.

The Christmas jello.  

I opted for a separate plate so it didn't get mixed in with the other foods.

Jen and Taylor were in town from China.  Taylor is getting his tonsils out on Wednesday.

The day after Christmas we went to Hardware Ranch to see the elk.  

Jameson and June at the visitors center

We bundled up on the horse drawn sleigh.  It was 0 degrees outside. Brrrr.

There were between 500-600 elk in this field.  This winter feeding program started a long time ago to keep the elk out of the valley where they were causing a lot of problems.  They are free to come and go at any time, but large numbers come especially when the snow gets deep.

Later that afternoon Adam opened up the church and we took the kids to play for a bit.

Britton and Will playing soccer

We brought a few bikes and Korinne used her rollerblades.

The real competition came in the form of HORSE and a few games of Lightening. Taylor, Jen, Adam, Britton and I duked it out, but Adam pretty much won every game.  Basketball is his thing and the rest of us only pick up a ball every 20 years or so.

The adults went out to dinner that night while the kids watched a movie at home.  It's hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone.  Having family around for the holiday made it all the more fun.

Snow is Falling

Last Sunday night we went to a neighborhood Christmas party. Each family brought a treat to share and we all enjoyed socializing with each other. 

This year the neighborhood hosts really went above and beyond and had all sorts of games planned. 

Korinne and a friend had 1 min. to stack as many mini-donuts on their forehead as they could without having them fall over.  Just for the record I won the battle between Adam and me balancing 4 mini-donuts on my forehead when the buzzer went off. The record for the night was 5 and no, we didn't eat any of the donuts involved in the game. :-)

Britton and Jenna holding one of the little babies in the neighborhood.

Guess who found all of the yummy treats each family brought to share?

We had our first big snow storm of the year.  It snowed more in this storm than it did during all of December, January and February last year.

We didn't set out to have each of our kids play two different instruments, but it has kind of turned out that way.  The kids all wanted to take piano lessons, but then they also got involved in orchestra at school starting in the 4th grade so now between orchestra concerts, piano recitals and an extra cello recital for Britton our Decembers are filled to the brim with music.

Britton and Jenna playing a duet for the Christmas piano recital held at a nearby Episcopalian church. 

Korinne after playing very well in her piano recital.

Jenna after her orchestra concert.

Britton playing at his cello recital

We enjoyed hearing all of the cello students play a song together.

We haven't been able to use our central vac for over a month because the hose was ripped.  Adam had a Macgyver moment and used some of the other vacuum attachments to rig it up so we can still use the vacuum even with a ripped hose.  I could almost hear the Macgyver theme song playing in the background as he showed me how he got it working again.  All you really need to fix something is some duct tape and a ball point pen, right?  

It has sure been nice to have a working vacuum again.

Jameson joined the neighborhood joy school group for preschool this week and had a seamless transition.  He already knows all of the other kids so he just jumped right in and had a great time.

The Mom who was teaching this week sent this picture of the boys using their "counting sticks".  It was nice to walk him just a few doors down instead of driving him all the way to campus.

Jenna's Sunday School teachers had an end of year party after school on Friday.  The girls partied and played games for over 4 hours! Can you believe that there are 12 girls in our ward that are all within 6 months of each other? They love it because no matter what they are doing it is always a party.

The kids are out of school until after the new year and it looks like it will be snowing for the next couple of days so we are going to have a VERY Merry (and white) Christmas.